20 INTRODUCTION. 



centre from Western Mt. on the west to Newport Mt. on 

 the east stretches the granitic range of mountains that 

 has given Mt. Desert its name, rising almost from the 

 sea to heights varying from about three hundred to over 

 fifteen hundred feet. Towards the north the ground slopes 

 to the farming lands of Eden and the great meadow of 

 the Northeast Creek, and towards the southwest to the 

 meadows of Marsh Creek, to Great Heath and the boggy 

 wilderness below the Hio. Between the peaks of the 

 granitic range lie deep valleys, filled either by an arm of 

 the sea, as Somes Sound, or by a lake or pond of more or 

 less magnitude. These are mountain ponds for the 

 most part, many of them of great depth, with rocky 

 shores broken by stretches of sand or gravel beaches. 

 None of the streams are of much size, and the regularity 

 even of their natural flow has been greatly diminished by 

 the wanton destruction of the woods about their water 

 sheds. 1 



All of these facts, however, are much better explained 

 by the map itself, and by the article on the geology of 

 the Island by Professor Davis, kindly contributed by 

 him for this very purpose. It is better, therefore, in this 

 place to make no more than the most general statements 

 in regard to the topography. Neither is it well to attempt 

 any detailed description of the flora in its relations to 

 these physical and geological characteristics, for as yet 

 the evidence seems too fragmentary and disconnected to 

 prove facts of much value. A few brief statements of a 

 very general nature, illustrated by a few examples, may 

 however be of interest to the botanist. 



One of the most marked characteristics of the Isl- 

 and flora is its not only strongly northern, but arctic 



1 See " The Woods of Mt. Desert Island," Garden and Forest, II. 483. 



